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PHILIPSBURG, PA — The former Philipsburg commercial building on Pine and 11th streets, gutted by a fire in June, was scheduled for demolition Tuesday.

Overnight, it got a head start.

Monday, shortly before midnight, the upper section of the vacant building along Pine Street collapsed from wind and rain, spraying bricks onto the sidewalk and street and knocking out power in the neighborhood.

Update: At 8:45 a.m. Saturday, about 152,000 were still without electricity, according to Peco, down from 715,000 at the outage’s peak. Sixteen percent of the Pennsylvania suburbs remain without power; including 30% in Chester County.

Nearly 40 percent of Chester County remained powerless late Friday, with several communities entirely dark for a third straight night and officials warning that it might be days before all the lights were back on.

Peco, which had more than 5,000 utility workers – half from out of town – clearing downed trees and repairing wires Friday, continued to make progress restoring power, with more than 60,000 customers brought online during the day. At 10 p.m. Friday, about 182,000 were still without electricity, down from 715,000 at the outage’s peak.

Peco ranked the event as the largest winter power outage in its history, second overall to 2012’s Hurricane Sandy.

NORRISTOWN, PA — A PECO spokesperson said they are looking into a multiple day restoration process for 67 percent of customers without power in Montgomery County.

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, 181,902 of the 302,600 PECO customers in Montgomery County are without power—not all Montgomery County residents are PECO customers— and crews are in the area trying to turn the lights back on.

“We’re looking at the second worst storm for power outages since Hurricane Sandy,” PECO Spokesperson Cathy Engel Mendez said on Wednesday.

Mendez said the most common cause of the outages have to do with tree limbs coming down on power lines.

Map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The heaviest precipitation that will hit Berks County today is over, but the storm has toppled numerous trees in the area, blocking roadways and causing power outages.

Nearly 9,000 customers are without power in the Met-Ed and PPL service areas in Berks.

As of 10 a.m., Met-Ed reported there were 5,500 outages in Reading and eastern and northern Berks, while PPL reported 3,200 customers were without power in Wyomissing, western Berks and the Morgantown area in southern Berks.

PPL reported 60,679 of its customers in a 16-county area of the state were affected by outages, while Met-Ed’s parent company, FirstEnergy, said there were 78,000 Pennsylvania customers affected.

People in Western Pennsylvania braced Wednesday night for a second round of potentially devastating storms following torrents that dropped as much as 3 inches of rain in some parts of the area during the day.

But all of the foreboding and warnings ended up as mostly just that as a string of storms that arrived shortly after the evening rush hour brought with them less rain than was expected.

“It moved through so quickly,” said meteorologist Brad Rehak, of the National Weather Service. “It wasn’t as heavy.”

Rainfall that was expected to end just after midnight should be replaced throughout the next three days with drier, more comfortable weather — aiding in crews’ cleanup efforts.

The scene at the corner of Chelten and Wissahickon avenues in Philadelphia said it all: A blue mountain bike, badly mangled and turned upside down, but still somehow tethered to a bicycle rack.

The city and its suburbs emerged shaken but largely intact Tuesday morning, after taking a night’s beating from Sandy’s high winds and rain. Some people remained in shelters, but waterways were receding in certain areas, and many residents were coming outside to survey the damage and take a deep breath of relief.

Travel remained challenging, with downed power lines and trees closing streets. SEPTA began resuming services at noon, hoping to bring the system to full strength piece by piece. Shopping malls planned to reopen Tuesday, though an estimated 1.2 million were without power across Pennsylvania.

A Peco spokesperson said total outages for Southeastern Pennsylvania reached more than 800,000 at the height of the storm, shattering previous records, and as of Tuesday morning 585,000 were without service. Restoration could take days.

Locator map of the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Metropolitan Statistical Area in the northeastern part of the of . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sandy is knocking on NEPA’s door, and those who can should keep that door shut. While the rain and wind weren’t strong for the morning commute, they will be for the ride home. Most area schools, and many other facilities, are closed. Flights and bus runs are canceled and driving will get tricky as the outer bands of the megastorm known as Hurricane Sandy blow around NEPA.

The National Weather Service says today’s heavier rains will begin after 11 a.m. The high will climb to near 57. The north wind at 11 to 16 mph will increase to 25 to 31 mph in the afternoon. New daytime precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch are possible. The rain will continue tonight when the low dips to around 48. It will be very windy, with a northeast blast of 25 to 31 mph, and gusts up to 46 mph. New nighttime precipitation amounts of between thee quarters and an inch are possible.

Richard Beasley, regional spokesman for PPL Electric Utilities, said some consumers should be prepare for lengthy power outages.

“Even with the best of preparation, people are going to lose power,” Mr. Beasley said. “We are not talking hours here. In some cases, we may be talking days, depending on the weather.”

Predictions for the hybrid storm bearing down on the Northeast keep worsening and the tone of the coverage is growing ever more strident, so it’s no wonder the phone at Ice Cream World has been ringing off the hook.

No one’s looking to stock up on ice cream. The South Whitehall Township ice cream parlor across from Dorney Park has long been a supplier of dry ice for power outage emergencies.

A block of the frozen compressed gas can preserve the food in a powerless refrigerator for days. And with the storm dubbed “Frankenstorm” predicted to rampage from Sunday to Wednesday with powerful winds and flooding rain, power outages are a virtual certainty.

“For years people have known we’re one of the centers for dry ice,” owner Kim MacIver said Friday. “We’ve had people show up, but we’re asking them to wait.”

This map shows the incorporated areas in Los Angeles County, California. Torrance is highlighted in red. I created it in Inkscape using data from the Los Angeles County Website (Los Angeles County Incorporated Area and District Map (PDF). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

California’s average gasoline price set a record Saturday of $4.614 for a gallon of regular, up 12.8 cents overnight – but anyone who filled up in the last few days probably isn’t surprised.

Gasoline prices skyrocketed after the Exxon Mobile refinery in Torrance was knocked offline Monday by a power outage. Other lingering refinery and pipeline problems also contributed to the soaring costs at the pump.

A malfunction at a PPL substation in East Petersburg knocked out power to thousands and created traffic backups on area roads Thursday afternoon.

PPL spokesman Kurt Blumenau said a tripped transformer sparked the 4:30 p.m. outage that affected about 5,200 homes and businesses in Manheim and East Hempfield townships as well as a portion of the western part of Lancaster city.